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Captain (rank)
Captain was a commissioned officer rank, the equivalent of which was used by the service organizations of many civilizations. The title of captain was often used by vessel commanders and, as a naval rank, in many Earth navies and Starfleet, was above commander. As an infantry rank, captains ranked subordinate to a major and above a first lieutenant. Earth history On Earth, the title of captain was used as far back as the Middle Ages, where a captain was a nobleman commissioned to command a company of soldiers. One of the characters of William Shakespeare's play Henry V was quoted as saying "Under what captain serve you?" when approached on guard duty. ( ) By the 20th century, the rank of captain was common in Earth militaries and was used by all branches of service in the United States armed forces. The rank of captain was represented by a double rectangular silver bar uniform insignia for ground units and the equivalent of a colonel's eagle for naval captains. In 2364, the Q-entity took the form of a US Marine Corps captain when confronting Captain Picard. In this disguise, Q was quoted as stating "All it takes is a few good men." Q also appeared as a 16th century sea captain to the crew. ( ) In the US Navy, the rank of Captain was specifically that of the superior officer of a ship, whereas in the other branches – being land or air based and not having ships – it was just another officer rank. The rank of captain was also used by World War II Germany. In the German army, the rank was translated as Hauptmann (headman), but in the SS, company captains were referred to as Hauptsturmführer ("head storm leader"). The collar insignia for this was a black square bordered with white, with three silver pips in a diagonal line, with two stripes underneath. In a holodeck simulation of a Nazi campaign in France, a group of Hirogen pitted the crew of against holographic 1940s Germans. A US Army captain named Miller was the role assigned to Chakotay in the program; an SS Hauptsturmführer captain was another character in the simulation. ( ) , Boehmer wore the same uniform, but with ''Untersturmführer'' insignia, this time credited as "SS Agent".}} Starfleet captains By the mid 22nd century, captain was a senior line officer rank of most space services and usually given to the commanding officers of starships. This naval rank is equivalent to the infantry rank of colonel, the Romulan Star Empire's commander grade, the Cardassian Union's title of gul and the Ferengi Alliance's quasi-military DaiMon title. On starships, the term captain was also often used as a synonym to commanding officer. Proper naval parlance said that, even if a vessel was commanded by an officer whose rank was lower than captain, that officer was still able to be referred to as a captain while on the deck of their own vessel, no matter their literal commissioned rank. ( ) Captains of starships, often located hundreds of light years away from and out of communications with higher authority, needed to be able to function autonomously and make independent command decisions affecting Federation policy and countless lives. Accordingly, few Starfleet officers ever gained the captaincy of a starship, the result of decades of sustained excellence as a Starfleet leader. A senior captain given a large degree of responsibility or administrative assignment was sometimes given the title of fleet captain. The rank of captain could also be held by non-command personnel, especially on ships with a number of veteran and senior officers whose experience had warranted advancement to the rank of captain but without command of a starship. Such was the case on the , where the senior staff consisted of no less than three captains: the commanding officer (James T. Kirk), the first officer (Spock), and the chief engineer (Montgomery Scott). ( ) Captain Scott had previously held his rank of captain while chief engineer of the , where he was known as the "Captain of Engineering". ( ) , possibly indicating, though never mentioned on-screen, that Scotty was either frocked or promoted to the rank of captain, despite his taking part in the hijacking of the Enterprise.}} The rank of captain could also be held by staff officers, such as those assigned to as a Judge Advocate General sector officer. Such was the case with Phillipa Louvois, who was a sector JAG officer in 2365. ( ) Reaching the rank of captain in other non-command branches of Starfleet was generally considered difficult, as noticed by one security officer, who once remarked "You don't make captain by wearing a gold shirt". ( ) However, the rank was apparently obtainable in both the sciences and operations division, as the rank was held by Captain Krasnovsky in 2267, although he may have held command qualification while also being a science officer, and Vice Admiral Toddman presumably held the rank sometime before 2371. ( ; ) held the title of captain in a sciences uniform, but not the actual rank. Leonard McCoy also presumably once held the rank, since he was an admiral in 2364, but wasn't seen in a uniform.}} Tryla Scott was said to have achieved the rank of captain faster than anyone in Starfleet history as of 2364. ( ) When Lieutenant commander Data was asked in 2368 by why he wasn't captain of the Enterprise-D, Data explained that "My service experience does not yet warrant such a position." ( ) Some noted captains in Starfleet history were: * Captain Jonathan Archer of * Captain Richard Robau of the [[USS Kelvin|USS Kelvin]] * Captain Philippa Georgiou of the [[USS Shenzhou|USS Shenzhou]] * Captain Christopher Pike of the * Captain Gabriel Lorca of the and [[USS Discovery|USS Discovery]] * Captain James T. Kirk of the and * Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the and the * Captain Benjamin Sisko of Deep Space 9 and the * Captain Kathryn Janeway of the The Starfleet of the alternate reality established in 2233 by the temporal incursion of the Romulan Nero had the following noteworthy captains: * Captain of the * Captain of the and File:Jonathan Archer, 2155.jpg|Captain Jonathan Archer File:Richard Robau.jpg|Captain Richard Robau File:Philippa Georgiou, tactical gear.jpg|Captain Philippa Georgiou File:Christopher Pike, 2254.jpg|Captain Christopher Pike File:Gabriel Lorca.jpg|Captain Gabriel Lorca File:James Kirk, 2266.jpg|Captain James T. Kirk File:Jean Luc Picard 2364.jpg|Captain Jean-Luc Picard File:Benjamin Sisko, 2375.jpg|Captain Benjamin Sisko File:Kathryn Janeway, 2377.jpg|Captain Kathryn Janeway File:Christopher Pike, 2258.jpg|Captain Christopher Pike File:James T. Kirk, alternate reality.jpg|Captain James T. Kirk Other versions of captain Captain was a title typically held by commanders of merchant vessels and sometimes service craft. In 2367, Wesley Crusher remarked in a bemused manner that Dirgo was claiming to hold the rank of captain while serving as the master of the mining shuttle Nenebek. To this, Dirgo sternly told Crusher that yes, indeed, his rank was that of captain in comparison to Crusher's rank of ensign. ( ) The title of was also given to the leaders of sports teams. In the 2360s, K'Vada, Kargan, Korris, Kurn, and were captains in the Klingon Defense Force. ( ) , captain was a rank in the Military Assault Command Operations in the 2150s. The insignia for this rank was on display in a diagran of MACO rank and insignia.}} Appendices Related topics *List of Starfleet captains Background information The lead characters in Star Trek productions have typically been Starfleet captains. In series television, these characters have included (in production order) James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), and Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula; the only difference when listed chronologically being that Captain Archer was before the other four captains). At first, the only exception to the captain-as-series-lead practice was when Sisko was portrayed as a commander during the first three seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, although Kirk was portrayed as an admiral, rather than a captain, in the first four ''Star Trek'' films. Also, the alternate reality version of Captain has served as the lead character in three films – , , and – but has never appeared in televised Star Trek. Other instances of breaking the captain-as-series-lead method are in , which portrays Captains Philippa Georgiou and Gabriel Lorca as secondary characters to series lead Michael Burnham. The actors who have appeared in lead roles as Star Trek captains on television have been extremely varied. Jonathan Frakes remarked, "The five captains are so distinctive because of the five actors that play them, obviously. Patrick Stewart was cast against type, coming after Bill Shatner. Avery Brooks, quite obviously, was cast against type, coming after Patrick. It was smart to bring Kate Mulgrew in, as a woman, and then Scott Bakula had an entire charm of his own. I think ... whether it was planned or not, it was a very successful endeavor." (The Captains) The Bajoran Militia, which also used army rank names, has been referred to by the Star Trek Encyclopedia as having a captain grade, with an insignia seen in episodes on officers subordinate to Major Kira Nerys, although they were never referred to by any specific rank in canon productions or materials. External link * bg:Капитан sr:Kapetan pt-br:Capitão eo:Kapitano cs:Kapitán de:Captain es:Capitán fr:Capitaine it:Capitano ja:大佐 nl:Captain pl:Kapitan pt:Capitão ru:Капитан sv:Kommendör zh-cn:上校 Category:Military ranks